There’s a lot of work that needs to be done on the McCreary Recreation Center in Perry, and the parks and recreation department recently got a big helping hand.

Director John Anderson says they were recently given a $50,000 anonymous donation, which was earmarked for aesthetic improvements for the facility. Anderson says the money will be a huge help, and they’ve already started to figure out how to spend it. “What we’ve done, and we’ve had a lot of conversation about it, is we kind of went from room to room inside the rec center, and we kind of picked certain items in each portion of the building to give it a bit of a facelift.”

One example of something in need of improvement is the stove and oven range in the kitchen. Anderson explains the stove is nearly 35 years old and has an open pilot light, which he feels creates a fire hazard. Another area for improvement is the gym, where the drop ceiling is often used for target practice by younger visitors, so ceiling tiles are frequently in need of replacing. They also would like to replace the mats on the gym walls, which are original from when the center opened. Other possibilities include replacing the diving board, dumbbells, and dumbbell racks.

Anderson believes they may look into supplementing the $50,000 donation with money from other grants in an attempt to stretch the funds as much as possible.